1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to an improved shelf bracket which is molded from a plastic material and provides improved stability for a shelf mounted within a cabinet.
2. Description Of The Prior Art And Objectives Of The Invention
Brackets for holding shelves in bookcases, cabinets or the like are well known and have been designed in the past with cost and ease of use uppermost in the minds of the manufacturers. At first such shelf brackets were concerned with simply holding a shelf at a desired elevation as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 598,742. Later, improvements over shelf brackets were conceived such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,037,813 and 4,053,132. These devices along with the bracket of U.S. Pat. No. 3,471,112 were concerned with both maintaining the shelf in a level position and also preventing it from moving upwward by a series of fingers or vertical stops.
Once preformed or molded shelf brackets became accepted in the lower or less expensive lines of furniture, their ease and convenience led manufacturers to begin using them in moderatly and higher priced furniture thus placing increased demands on the brackets for uniformity, tolerance standards and performance. For example the purchaser of an inexpensive cabinet may not be concerned if the shelves appear loose or shake before the shelves are loaded whereas the purchaser of a more expensive cabinet might be quite concerned with the steadiness of the shelves. In most prior art shelf bracket applications the shelf has been provided with good vertical stability but little attention was paid to the lateral tolerances. In the event a shelf was cut slightly shorter than desired, lateral (side-to-side) movement of the shelf would occur thus giving the impression of an inexpensive or low end cabinet, thereby creating resistance for their use in quality furniture lines.
With the disadvantages and limitations of prior art shelf brackets the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a shelf bracket with can be easily adapted to conventional cabinet constructions.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a shelf bracket which is molded from plastic or the like and includes a hinged lateral retainer which is resilient in operation.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a shelf bracket which will support a large vertical weight and will accomodate shelves of varying lengths within certain prescribed tolerances.
Other advantages and objectives of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description of the invention is set forth below.